Impregnating apparatus.



0. S. SLEEPER.

IMPREGNATING APPARATUS. APPLICATI ON FILED NOV-17.1910.

1,154,44 .Petented Sept. 21, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

- 0. S. SLEEPER.

IMPREGNATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED Novx n, isyo.

.PatentedSept. 21, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.-

v C mwiawti s e s 0. S. SLEEPER.

'IMPREGNATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION man Nov n.1 91o. 1,154,447.PatentedSept2L1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

0. S. SLEEPER.

.IMPREGNATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED NOV, E7. 1910.

- 1,154,441 PatentedSepfi. 21; 1915.

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2: ran s ra rns ra 'ran r. ora ion.

OLIVER S. SLEEPER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORiTO BUFFALO FOUNDRY &MACHINE COMPANY, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

IMPREGNATING APPARATUS.

1,1 seam.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

Application filed November 17, 1910. Serial No. 592,836.

To ulZ whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER S. SLEEPER, a

i may also be used for impregnating other fabric, paper or other sheetlik'e material with other kinds of liquids, as for instance, paper usedin electrical work and tape for covering electric wires. I

In the accompanying drawings consisting of 4 sheets: Figure 1 is avertical longitudinal section, partly broken away, of an impregnatingapparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transversesection of the same taken in line 2-2, Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 arehorizontal sections in lines 3.3, l4, and 5- -5, Fig. 1, respectively. I

My improved impregnating apparatus embodies a casing or housing whichcomprises a lower hollow base A and an upper hollow tower A which risesfrom the central part of the top of the-base. For convcniencc ofmanufacture this casing is made in sections, as shown in the drawings.Extending upwardly from the bottom of the base and into the tower butstopping short of the top of the latter are two upright partitions a, awhich are arranged transversely within the base and tower and fit attheir opposite vertical edges against the longitudinal walls I), b ofthe base and tower,

thereby forming an inlet or front chamber B in the front part of thebase, an outlet or rear chamber 13 in the-rear part of the base, anascending or front well or shaft 13 .in the front part of the towerwhich connects at its lower end with the inlet chamber, a descending orrear well or shaft B in the rear part of the tower which connects withthe outlet chamber B and an intermediate well or tank B which isarranged between the inlet chamber and ascending well and the outletchamber and descending well and which is closed at its lower end andsides but communicates at its upper end with-the upper ends of both theascending and the descending wells.

The corresponding vertical side edges of the upright partitions a, a areconnected with each other and provided with laterally projecting.vertical ribs a which engage with vertical grooves a in the adjacentside wall of the tower and base, as shown in Figs. 3, 4t and 5. By thismeans the outer walls of the tower and the partitions are free to expandand contract freely in a vertical direction independently of each otherwhenaffected bythe differential ,in the temperature to which these partsare exposed, thereby preventing straining of these parts or opening anyof the joints in the same which would permit leakage.

In the inlet chamber and ascending well B, B the moisture. is removedfrom the fabric to be impregnated, in the tank 13*, the fabric isimpregnated with the desired compound and in thedescending well andoutlet chamber B B the solvents are removed from the impregnatedmaterial after the same has permeated the fabric or material undertreatment.

The chamber B receives the fabric, cloth or other material tobe treatedpreparatory to drying and impregnating the same and the chamber Breceives the material after.

the same has been impregnated. The ascending and descending wells B 13may be heated by any suitable means but preferably by means of coils a,0 through which may be circulated steam, hot water, oil or air or anyother suitable heating medium. In the side walls and top of the inletand outlet chambers the same are provided with observation windows orglasses (Z for admitting light into these chambers and also permittingof observing the operation of the parts within these chambers. Atsuitable intervals on the front and rear walls of the wells the same areprovided with manholes, each of which is fitted with a hinged cover awhich is equipped with a transparent pane The top of the tower is closedby a cover composed of two sections f which are removable and hinged tothe adjacent part of the tower and each provided with an observationglass f On opposite sides of the tower and communicating with theascending and descending wells are vapor outlet-nipples g, g which areconnected with an exhausting device of any suitable character forproducing a vacuum in the casing and through which themoisture andvapors from the cloth and the solvent from the compound are removed.

When a vacuum is produced within the casing an impregnating compoundwill be drawn through a pipe h from a supply tank H located alongside ofthe main casing and into the lower part of the impregnating tank whichholds the charge of impregnating compound during the operation oftreating a web of tire fabric or similar material. The height to whichthe impregnating compound is drawn into the impregnating tank will begoverned by the locality and the barometric pressure where the apparatusis installed. The apparatus is, however, so

constructed as to provide-for considerable leeway or fluctuations in theheight'of the level of the impregnating liquid in the im pregnatingtank.

The supply tank is fitted with stirrers H for mixing the compound, witha coil H for heating the compound and with a number of transparent panesof glass k for notin the interior of the same and the height of thecompound therein. The level of the liquid in the impregnating tank isregulated by the supply tank, inasmuch as liquid added to the supplytank will increase the height of the liquid in the impregnating tank.

I Additional compound may be added to the supply tank so that the sameis fed over into the impregnating tank and compensates for the compoundwhich is taken up by .the cloth or fabric under treatment.

The fabric or cloth w to be treated is unwound from a roll mountedhorizontally on a supply arbor I arranged transversely in the inlet orreceiving chamber B and passes thence inwardly between a pair, ofhorizontal feed rollers 71, i thence upwardly through the 'front'orascending well B and adjacent to the heating coils therein,

whereby the fabric is dried and the moisture is carried away under vacuothrough the vapor outlets g, thence inwardly and downwardly over a frontelevated supporting roller J into one side of the impregnating tankcontaining the bath or charge of lmpregnating compound,- thenceunderneath and upwardly around a lower supporting roller K arranged atthe lower end of the impregnating tank and through the charge ofimpregnating compound in the impregnating tank, thence outwardly anddownwardly around a rear elevated supporting roller J and through therear or descendin well B and. {adjacent to the heating coils .t erein,thence,-

underneath and outwardly around a rear lower supporting roller isarranged in the bearings but the roller 2' is movable bodily and heldyieldingly against the roller a by means of a weighted lever 6 As thefabric moves downwardly and upwardly in the form of a depending loopthrough the'compound in the impregnating tank the fabric becomesimpregnated with the compound therein.

Projecting downwardly from the top of the tower and into the upper partof the impregnating well is a transverse baflle j which fits at itsopposite vertical edges against the adjacent sides of the impregnatingtank and divides the upper part of the same into a descending throat 7'through which the fabric passes downwardly and an ascending throat 7'through which the fabric passes upwardly. The level of the liquidimpregnating compound is preferably of such height when the machine isin operation that the lower end of the bafile j dips at its lower endinto the impregnating liquid, thereby forming a liquid seal between thethroats and preventing the vapors from passing from one side to theother. The descending throat 7' is preferably made comparatively narrowthis being preferably effected by providing the adjacent sides of the.front partition a and the baffle 1' ings 7' of any suitable materialwhich are I arrangedclose to the opposite sides of the L fabric. By thismeans the descending throat through which the fabric passes uponentering the impregnating tank is reduced in area to prevent undueevaporation of the compound in the ascending well of the apparatus andalso to prevent the liquid compound from creeping upwardly through thedescending throat or passage which otherwise would' be liableto occurowing to the action of capillary attractionwhich would tend to carry theimpregnating compound or liquid up throughthe cloth or fabric and to theupper supporting roller J on this side of the baffle. As the fabricleaves the upper end of the ascending throat j? the fabric is scraped onboth sides by means of scrapers m, m engaging with opposite sidesthereof, thereby removing any surplus liquid from the fabric andreturning the same to the impregnating tank. The scrapers m, m aremounted respectively on horizontal transverse shafts M, M journaled inthe walls of, the tower and provided outsideof the latter with weightedarms M M which operate to hold the scrapers m, m yieldingly inengagement with thefabric.

The underside of the upper rear supporting roller J is also engaged by ascraper m which removes any impregnating compound adhering thereto andreturns the same to the impregnating tank, this last mentioned tankbeing mounted on the adjacent part of the tower wall.

The compound in the impregnating tank is kept heated to the propertemperature by means of a heating coil arranged in the lower part of theimpregnating tank below the lower supporting wheel or roller K wherebythe heat from the coil 70 together with the heat derived from the coilsc, 0 adjacent to the partitions a, a maintain the compound in theimpregnating tank at the proper temperature. Each coil is provided withany suitable means Whereby the heating effect of the same may beregulated.

In rolling up the finished fabric on the arbor L a separating Web 'nconsisting preferably of oil paper is fed from a roll a in between the,several coils or convolutions of ferent locations for the purpose ofdetermin- L 'ing the temperature of the compound and vapors and for thesame reason one or more thermometers 70 are placed in the supply tank H.i

The rollers i, J, K, J 7c and the winding up arborL are driven by powerand preferably bygearing located on one side of the apparatus and of anysuitable construction but preferably that shown'in the drawings. Thisgearing, as shown, comprises a worm 0 and worm wheel 0 which intermesh,acone pulley o for driving the worm, a lower longitudinal shaft 0journaled on the lower part of the casing and carrying the worm wheel. 0bevel wheels 0*, 0 or", arranged on the shafts of. the rollersi,K and 7cand meshing with bevel wheels 0 0*, 0, on the longitudinal shaft, afriction pinion 0 mounted on the longitudinal shaft and engaging afriction wheel 0 on the outer end of the arbor L, an upper longitudinalshaft 0 journaled on the tower and provided with bevel wheels 0 0meshing with similar wheels 0 0 on the shafts of the upper supportingwheels J, J and an upright shaft 0" journaled on the casing and con,-

nected by an upper pair of intermeshing bevel wheels 0 with the upperlongitudinal shaft and provided with a lower bevel wheel 0" meshing withthe bevel wheel 0 The apparatus is so devised that the vacuum is thesame in the machine on both sides of the baflle j and cannot bedestroyed in the space on one side of the same without similarlyaffecting the space on the other side of the same. This is preferablyeffected by connecting the inlet and outlet chambers and associatedspaces by a pipe K having a single vent valve K whereby the vacuum inthese chambers and the spaces connecting therewith is equalized orbalanced and the same may be simultaneously connected with ordisconnected from the atmosphere. The

outer ends of the inlet and outlet chambers are provided with doors 0',c to permit of free access to the base for introducing an untreated rollof fabric and removing a treated or impregnated roll of fabrictherefrom. Each of the supporting rollers J, J, K is capable of beingremoved axially out of the casing through an opening in the latter eachof these openings being normally closed by'a cover 0 Wherever necessary,manholes are also placed in the casing to permit of stringing a pilotstrip through the machine whereby the fabric to be treated is threadedthrough the machine, manholes of this character being shown for instanceon the outer sides'of the inlet and delivery chambers which are normallyclosed by doors 0*, c and also on the front and rear sides of theimpregnating tank at the lower end thereof at which latter place themanholes are closed by covers 0 In operating this machine the same isused in connection withtwo surface condensers Q, Q under vacuum, one dryvacuum pump R, an'expansion pan or chamber S and an atmosphericcondenser T which are connected as shown in the drawings and each ofwhich may be of any suitable and well known construction. The purpose ofthe two surface condensers is to permit of attaching one Q, to the vaporoutlets g on the front side or ascending well of the tower forwithdrawing the moisture from the cloth and reclaiming the moisturewhile the other Q is connected with the vapor outlets on the rear sideor descending well of the tower for removing the solvents from thecompound which may be carried over by the impregnated fabric and thuspermit of reclaiming these solvents. These two surface condensers areattached to the same inlet of the vacuum pump above mentioned. Shouldany solvent enter the condenser Q when reclaiming the moisture from thefabric the same would be again evaporated owing to this condenser beingunder vacuum and this solvent being more volatile than water. The othercondenser Q operates to reclaim some ofthe solvent but part of it willbe again evaporated and enter the air cylinder of the vacuum pump. Thisair cylinder discharges this solvent vapor into the'expansion pan Swhich latter serves the purpose of equalizing the exhaust of the pumpand preventing pulsations thereof. The expansion pan is attached to theatmospheric condenser which operates as an atmospheric seal' to preventthe escape of vapors and cause them to condense and fall back into theexpansion pan. The latter and the condensers are water jacketed and arecooled with Water in the usual manner to cause the condensation of thevapors passing through the same. The solvents so recovered may be putback into the compound, if desired, in such amounts as may be necessaryto keep the compound of the proper consistency, the solvent beingpreferably added to the compound in the auxiliary tank H. The fabric tobe impregnated is introduced into the inlet chamber through the openingin the casing which is normallyclosed by the door a and the finishedfabric is removed from the outlet chamber through the opening thereofwhich is normally closed by the door 0 vIn order to maintain the fabricat the proper temperature while the same is being wound on the arbor Lthe outlet chamber is heated preferably by a steam :coil I0 as shown inFig. 1. By means of the friction gearing for driving the receiving arborL the variation in the speed of the roll of finished fabric at theperiphery thereof due to the constant increase of its diameter as thefabric'winds up is compensated for and the fabric is kept under constanttension.

In the bottoms of the inlet and outlet chambers are arranged drain pipes39 containing valves ;19 which permit of removing from these chambersany liquid or solvents which may gather therein.

Owing to the impregnating liquid being supported in the form of anupright column the fabric, before entering this liquid at the top of theimpregnating tank, may be thoroughly evacuated and as this evacuatedfabric descends in the compound it gradually comes under increasingpressure upon approaching the bottom of the impregnating tank, wherebythe compound is forced into the evacuated fabric and the latter becomesthoroughly impregnated.

It will be noted that in the construction of this apparatus as shown inthe drawings all operations of the apparatus may be controlled from thefloor on which the same rests.

I claim as my invention:

1. An impregnating device comprising a vacuum chamber, a tank forholding an impregnating fluid arranged within said vacuum tank, meansfor supplying an article to be impregnated to said tank and arrangedwithin said chamber and outside. of said said casing, and a. ba earranged within said casing and projecting from said casing into saidtank and forming inlet and outlet throats for the passage of the articleto be treated.' a

3. An impregnating apparatus comprising a casing having an inletchamber, an outlet chamber, upright wells connected at their lower endswith said, chambers, respectively, a tank adapted to hold animpregnating liquid communicating at its upper end with said wells, andmeans for moving a sheet like material from said inlet chamber upwardlythrough one of said wells, thence downwardly and upwardly through saidtank, and thence downwardly through the other well into said outletchamber.

4. An impregnating apparatus comprising a casing having an inletchamber, an

outlet chamber, upright Wells connectedat their lower ends with saidchambers, respectively, a tank adapted to hold an impregnat- Ipregnating liquid communicating at its upper end with said wells,andmeans for moving a sheet like material from said inlet chamberupwardly through one of said wells, thence downwardly and u wardlythrough said tank, and thence downwardly through the other well intosaid outlet chamber comprising supporting rollers arranged in the casingat the lower ends of said wells and tank and at the upper ends of saidwells.

6. An impregnating apparatus comprising a casing having an inletchamber, an outleti chamber, upright wells connected at their ower endswith said chamber, respectively, a tank adapted to hold an impreg- .asheet'like material from said inlet chamber upwardly through one saidwells,

thence downwardly andaupwardly' through said tank, and thence downwardlythrough the other well into said outlet chamber comprising supportingrollers arranged in the casing at the lower ends of said wells and tankand at the upper ends of said wells,-

which the material is wound.

- 7. An impregnating apparatus comprising a vacuum casing, a tank forholding an impregnating liquid arranged in said casing, and means forslidingly connecting the casing and tank comprising a rib arrangedengaging with a groove in the other member and dividing the space withinthe easing into two wells which communicate at their upper ends with the.upper end of the tank.

8. An impregnating apparatus comprising a casing, a tank arranged whollywithin said casing and adapted to hold an impregnating liquid, a wellcommunicating at its upper end with the upper end of said tank, andmeans for moving a sheet like article upwardly through said well anddown-- wardly and upwardly through said tank.

9. An impregnating apparatus comprising a casing, a tank arranged whollywithin said casing and adapted to hold an impregnating liquid, a wellcommunicating at its upper end with the upper end of said tank and meansfor moving a sheet like material downwardly and upwardly through saifitank and downwardly through said we 10. An impregnatingapparatus'comprkinga casing, a tank arranged wholly within said casingand adapted to hold an impregnating liquid, two wells connected at theirupper ends with the upper end of said tank, and means for moving a sheetlike article upward through one well, thence downwardly andupwardlythrough said tank, and thence downwardly through the other well.

Witness my hand this 9th day of November, 1910.

OLIVER S. SLEEPER.

Witnesses:

Tnnononn L. Porr, ANNA l-lnrers.

